Miesha Tate Wants Ronda Rousey Trilogy Fight: ‘It Would Be Different’
Former UFC bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate, would love to get a third shot at MMA legend Ronda Rousey.
‘Cupcake’ recently revealed she will be returning to the Octagon five years after she surprisingly retired from the sport.
Tate will square off against Marion Reneau on July 17.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Fight Nation, Tate discussed who she’d ideally face after Reneau and came up with three names she’s already squared off against at least once.
“Ronda (Rousey) first, Cat (Zingano) second, and Holly (Holm) third,” Tate said. “Holly, I already beat her so, you know, she wants a rematch at me more but definitely Ronda would be prime. That would be first for sure and Cat’s a close second.”
Tate was twice submitted by Rousey but believes third time around things would be different.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind it would be different, for sure,” Tate said. “I’m just so different myself. I don’t know how to explain, I just want you guys to see it on July 17. Just things that I didn’t realize and I didn’t compute before as a fighter that I feel like I’m finally picking up at this stage in my life. I don’t know, call it maturity, call it maybe sitting back observing this sport and watching and not being under the pressure to compete all the time has allowed me to kind of look at this in a more cerebral way.
“I used to be very much a brawler and tough. I still have the mental toughness, I still have the fight but I feel like for the first time I’m tapping into my fight IQ and really going to go about things in a different way than I did before, at least to start fights. Fights are fights, right? It’s liable to get crazy at any point but I’m much different than I ever was before.”
Unfortuanely for Tate, two of her three fantasy match-ups seem out of reach. Rousey has been retired for years and has shown no interest in returning to MMA. Zingano is now with Bellator. A UFC return or cross-promotion fight seems unlikely.
Despite that, Tate believes she will not be short of options moving forward.
“I will be the second most hunted woman in the division, I feel like that for sure,” Tate concluded. “The champion will be number one but it seems like women are always interested in fighting me.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
Who do you want to see Miesha Tate fight after Marion Reneau?
